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Nausicaa – 5 Translating Khador to 40k, unwanted allies

The whole of Nausicaa has been drafted for war. A small moon of a dead planet on a remote fringe of the galaxy, Nausicaa had enjoyed a certain degree of independence from the Empire. Once a two-world kingdom, counting Nausicaa and its now arid planet Cadmus, Nausicaa fell under the rule of the Tolmekian empire at the time of this latter’s annexation to the Imperium. As the Tolmekian emperor accepted to join the Empire and become a province ruler, he got enough troops and logistic support in exchange to finally mount the great campaign against Nausicaa that his ancestors had always dreamed of. The Cadmus conquest, as it is somewhat incoherently known in the Empire, lasted short of two hundred years but led to the complete destruction of the planet and the extermination or subjugation of its entire population. A vice-governor was installed in what once was the Winter palace on Nausicaa and the world was turned into the sector’s granary.

In this post I cover some more Khadorian and Cygnaran models that can be adapted as Tolmekian troops.

Translates as: Tolmekian stormtroopers.

At first I didn’t like these models. The poses of some are just horrible: they look like someone horribly messed up the sprite animations of those guys with the gas mask from Metal Slug, then added a spiked shield and painted them red. The shields can be removed and put to better use – necromunda enforcers of course. They might do as Militarum scions, but: while the Nausicaan forces are raised and trained on Nausicaa, as far as I get it the Ordo tempestus is a galaxy-wide consistent organisation, so that having them look so different from the original won’t do. Plus, my men are rebels, so the Ordo’s orders would likely be to shoot them on sight. That won’t do either. So, I could use these models as a Tolmekian unit. Being long-time loyalists, the Tolmekians get access to better weaponry and so they are likely to be able to put up a regular corps of assault troopers to suppress rebellions on the various planet of their small personal sub-empire.

On top of everything, I really like the flamer model that goes with this unit. If I’m going into the range, this particular miniature would be a pity to miss:

I might either buy just the flamer and use it in a special weapons squad (the armour would be justified because who wants to go in battle with a flamer without some extra protection?) or buy the whole lot depending on how much importance the Tolmekians will get in the story.

I found these Cygnaran guys that could represent the Tolmekian soldiers as they appear in Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Considering that my time and modeling skills are very limited they might be already good enough as they are, but I might try greestuffing some cloaks on them.

As for what they could be taken to represent in the WH40k universe, I’m at a loss. Extremely archaic (or rather extremely recent and thus technologically inferior) Space Marine copycats? As I see it, though, the armour of the Privateer models, in the 40k universe, would be more for display than protection. And are those power swords? They would surely like to believe it, but they’re definitely not.

For me, these knights are more like a glorified and ridiculous police corps, adept at molesting unarmed peasants on a backward world, until they suddenly have to face demons, industrially produced heavy weaponry, and the true meaning of “warmachine”. They might desert together with the Nausicaans, once they hit the battle line and all their convictions are blown to shards, but they surely won’t find them ready for comradeship. Why not, at that point they might even join chaos, out of cowardice and their habit of serving the most powerful master. That would open up some possibilities for conversion, though that might depend on how easy Privateer Press’s metal is to cut into: they look like Tzeench – because they’re blue, duh – but I still have to decide what particular demonic army the Nausicaans are going to confront.

Translates to: Tolmekian infantry squad.

Now, the Tolmekians as well have their levy. With the usual hassle of repeated sculpts and conversion hardships, these are nice characterful models. Before I settled on the Soviet / Valhallan mood, I even considered these as main infantrymen to complete the Vostroyans. They come with two heavy weapons, both very nicely done and up for kitbashing.

For some reason, there seems to be no decent sized picture of the chain gun on Privateer, so I’m taking this from Waaagh Taverne.

I like both, but the cannon better. Here the trenchers give out their best “medieval” looks and have great gruntish expressions.

And here’s an officer or Commissar from the Tolmekian nobility that could go with them.

One could make an entire infantry platoon out of these minis, or at least a (another) elite squad. If I even want Nausicaans to hold their ground on the 40k tabletop, however, I think I should start looking into tanks.

Trenchers don’t look exactly like Tolmekian soldiers in Miyazaki’s anime but again, considered my limited skills, they are close enough – in a few ways, they’re even better looking. Here’s who they are meant to stand for.

Ok, this has almost taken the size of a project of its own, and it’s clearly secondary, so that’s more than enough for now.